You Can't come Back After the Third Strike
by Raven McBain
Summary: Ryan tries to comfort his exlover after the events of Bang Bang your Debt. Things don't go well. slash HoratioRyan, HoratioEric 870 words


Title: You can't come back after the Third Strike

Author: Dragon

Co-Author: RavenMcBain (ScifiRogueKane)

Rating: FRT

Pairing: pat tense Horatio/Ryan, mentions of Speed/Eric, and implications of Horatio/Eric

Characters: Ryan, Horatio, slight mentions of Eric, Speed, and Cooper, vague mentions of the rest of the team.

Content Warning: slash, one really bad word

Spoilers: missing scene for Bang, Bang, your Debt, mentions of Lost Son

Summary: Ryan didn't know what power had drawn him to his former lover's door, he just knew that he had to make sure the other man was all right

Authors Notes: This is my baby, I love Ryan and Horatio, and we all know H doesn't deal with betrayal well. Then as I was watching "Bang, Bang, your Debt" (after the perquisite fangirl, moment) I thought, how H must be affected by this. Then I told Raven about this plotbunny and that is how Eric/Speed and Eric/Horatio got into the story (well that and common sense, I watched that episode too, it screamed for both pairings, anyway.) So then this was born.

Ryan had been waiting in front of his friend's house for what felt like forever. Ever since he had heard about what Cooper had done he had been worried for his co-workers, Speed was untouchable, his death would always be the elephant in the room at that crime-lab, but the former members of his team had finally buried their beloved colleague, now that insensitive, idiotic, jerk, had dredged it all up for them, burning them again. He had never felt so out of the loop, hoping and praying that his friends, his family, were weathering this storm. He hadn't been able to simply stay put so he had driven here, and was waiting for the other man to come home. He didn't know why he was here, he knew he wouldn't be welcome, not after, his mistakes; there had been that glimmer of hope, a week back, that he was forgiven, but then he went and screwed up again. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't hear the Hummer pull up and the man he had been waiting for get out.

"Why are you here, Mr. Wolfe?" The sound of Horatio's quietly ironic voice close by, startled him and he jumped up. The sight of the redhead leaning against his vehicle, studying him with the same expression, Ryan had seen him use on suspects, almost made the young investigator head for the hills, almost but not quite.

"Um, I came to check on you?" Ryan silently cursed at how uncertain and young, his voice sounded. Even after three years and everything they had been through, Horatio Caine could still unnerve him like no one else. When he first started working for him all he could feel was awe for the other man, well mostly, but all other feelings had been ruthlessly shoved aside, though now that he looked back on it they could have been responsible, for his pathetic, 'look at me' phase. After a slight pause, he hurried on at Horatio's look (even though his eyes were still covered by those damn shades, keeping that barrier between them). "I mean, I know you were close to Speedle and what with Cooper fucking around with his cards and his memory, I thought, that you might need . . ." Ryan trailed off as he noticed something about H, he looked almost, dishevelled, like he'd gotten dressed quickly. In fact as Ryan looked him over he realised he knew that look too well, it was how Horatio would look after he had dragged Ryan into the nearest closet and they had. . . Ryan quickly put the breaks on that memory, it was too painful. "I guess I needn't have worried, you're obviously getting your needs met elsewhere." Ouch that was petty; he flinched, anticipating what was to come.

"My affairs are none of your concern anymore, Mr. Wolfe." Horatio's voice was crisp and authoritative, his aloof voice, Ryan thought. Horatio rarely yelled, he didn't have to, the quieter his voice got, the more intimidated you were, but frankly Ryan had always preferred his quiet, dangerous voice to his aloof one, at least then the ex-CSI would have known that he still cared. "I was with Eric, he was going through a tougher time then any of us because of this situation." OW, he didn't just admit to sleeping with Eric right, no way. The two CSI's had reached a truce over the years, but they would never be friends, and somehow, that just hurt!

"So jumping into, employees bed's is becoming routine for you now, huh?!" That was way harsher then he'd intended to be and he half expected Horatio to deck him right there. After all he was the one who broke Horatio's trust, over and over again. He had gambled with his position in the lab and his relationship with Horatio and he had lost. "H, I'm sorry. . . I didn't mean that, I. . ." What could he say, there was nothing to say. "You know he's just trying to fill the Speed sized whole in his bed, right?" And he should leave before things got worse. Frankly he wasn't surprised when Horatio lead in, trapping him against the door. He was, however, shocked when his ex-lover took of his shades and looked him in the eyes.

Don't worry, I'm not foolish enough to give my heart away, not again" and with those softly spoken words, Horatio moved around Ryan and entered his home, all but slamming the door behind him. Ryan let out the breath, he didn't even know that he had been holding. They had been together for almost a year and that had been the closest the other man had come to telling him that he loved him. With a final look at the closed door Ryan left, silently promising himself that he would get back everything that he had lost, he was on his way to getting his job back, if he could get H to give him a second chance there, maybe, he could get him to give him a second chance in other areas of life as well. He wasn't hopeful, but he had to try.


End file.
